Heretofore burial vault lowering devices were heavy, bulky and inefficient as well as unsafe, often allowing the vault and casket to drop unrestrained to the bottom of the grave. In addition the vault lid on existing devices was not presented in a satisfactory manner and was difficult to assemble and release the clamps on said devices.
Accordingly an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved, simple, safe and inexpensive burial vault lowering device and cover-handling apparatus for suspending burial vaults above the surface of a grave; and to efficiently allow one man to set-up and operate said device.
A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved burial vault cover handling and clamping device which is more quickly attached than previous devices, and which properly holds and displays the vault cover and any engraving thereon.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a device which may be assembled and operated between adjacent tombstones where existing devices do not adequately function due to their size and bulkiness.